Like so many other innocent creatures on this planet, polar bears are facing ever-worsening life-threatening conditions due to the fossil fuel industry’s insistence to keep burning, and to keep us dependent on their horrific energy sources. The bears’ Arctic home has been transformed in ways that are profound and terrible. The sea ice they used for hunting grounds is greatly depleted. The seals they hunted for prey have ever-more-numerous avenues of escape into dark and warming waters.

It’s a merciless and terrible burning. One that encompasses many genocides together. Ecocide, ecological shock, growth shock, the sixth great extinction. All words to describe what we now watch. What fossil fuel industry influence is preventing us from stopping. But to the bears themselves, it’s a wrenching torture. A forced orphaning and starvation combined as the bears grow increasingly emaciated, weak, and desperate. Transformed into walking skeletal beings, they’re ghosting off toward the obliteration fossil fuel interests are sentencing them to.

(Plunging Arctic sea ice driven by Northern Hemisphere polar amplification is the chief agent of habitat loss and extinction pressure for polar bears. As you can see in the superbly rendered video above by Andy Robinson, the fall has been merciless and precipitous.)

To a climate change denier, the plight of these poor creatures is a subject of ridicule and derision. ‘Who cares about stupid bears’ is the rallying cry of heartless ignoramuses everywhere. They’d rather us be worried about our own petty day-to-day existences. The back and forth, stuck in traffic, want more money, pay less taxes, fear of far off ISIS daily grind of the right wing soundtrack. Or when the tinny siren song of that ever-more-stuffed-with-straw appeal fails it’s back to the old — pretend it’s not happening — trick. Starving polar bears so desperate that they’re now forced to hibernate in summer to conserve energy must be photo-shopped by some imaginary government agency after all, right?

The bear, in dire need of food, was forced to hunt in a way it was not adapted to — by stalking in the water. It was forced, in desperation to swim toward near-water seals. And it was forced to hold its breath underwater. Hold it for longer than any polar bear ever witnessed. Hold it for a full 3 minutes where a mere 72 seconds was the previous record. It was as if the starved bear had been forced to perform impossible feats — or die. That’s the situation the callous greed and disregard of some have put them in. Do the impossible, or just die.

This bear’s struggle is not one occurring in isolation. It’s not just the struggle of a single individual. But the struggle of an entire race that is now being torn from the fabric of existence.

The cliche phrase to say at this time is that we are all responsible. That we all share the guilt. But it’s not true. In fact to say such a thing is a terrible lie providing an out for the real perpetrators of this egregious harm. There are some of us who want to change the bear’s situation. Some of us who want to improve its chances. Some of us who want to cut the destructive fossil fuel threads that bind the bear and us all to a terrible and ever worsening ecocide. The ones who want to help are not the problem. The ones attempting again and again to stop the ongoing damage are not the guilty party.

But the deniers and the fossil fuel industry the deniers wittingly or unwittingly serve are entirely different. They don’t care one whit about bears suffering an all-too-real existential crisis. And it seems they don’t care about their own children’s rising existential crisis either. They are the ones who deserve blame. For they are the authors of this great harm.

146 Comments

Terrible cruelties are being inflicted upon innocent life forms such as this dignified Polar Bear.
The fossil fuel industries, their operatives, their callous greed — and their cowardly consumers are the cause of this. Harbor no doubt of this.

Shame and honor seem to absent in the American gas and oil character.
America, Henry Ford, Standard Oil, Peabody Coal, and the rest of their ilk begat this descent into vicious cruelty.
Then the Canadians, Australians, British, Russians, and so many more followed along without coherent moral or ethical principles.
Now we have an unmitigated mess on our hands that our children will curse us for — if they don’t already. For we sure deserve it.

A Polar note:
A recent C-SPAN comment by the USCC Commandant noted the growing need for “traffic separation schemes” in the ice free Arctic oceans.
That means more vessels — all burning fossil fuels, are expected in an extremely fragile Arctic.
This is the last thing the Arctic needs.
OUT
###

climatehawk1

“Extracting fossil fuels is a lucrative business. Last year, ExxonMobil made $32.5 billion in profits. But, arguably, it’s a business built on shaky foundations. If we were to account for the full cost of fossil fuels to the environment, it might completely wipe out the industry’s profitability.

“That’s the conclusion of a new analysis from the University of Cambridge that tallies up the social cost of producing oil, gas and coal products. Across 20 leading companies, it finds “hidden economic costs”—that is, costs that aren’t currently paid—of $755 billion in 2008, and $883 billion in 2012. Which is several times what the companies reported in earned income in those years.”

Steve from NZ

Hi Robert – Thankyou for your hard work on this blog – it is so refreshing to be able to read comments that are not laden with denier lies – even though that must mean a lot of moderation. All the best, Steve.

The polar bear photo breaks my heart. I feel my heart breaks a little more each day. Since realising the enormity of the destruction of the environment I have felt strangely awake but dream-like at the same time. Nothing is quite the same. So many things that seemed important have just faded away. Trivialities. Sometimes I envy those who are unaware, momentarily at least, but you can’t live a lie, no matter how horrible the truth is.

The world spins on like a three ring circus. I saw some of the Republican debate on the news, full of petty point scoring and “playing the game”, it was beyond contempt and sickening. It’s not just the United States, it’s everywhere, a crisis of leadership.

I grew up in New Zealand in the 1970’s. It was dull but blissful. The country had a conscience. Protests against South African apartheid and the moment NZ became nuclear free filled me with pride. With the 1980’s came Neo-liberal economics which destroyed that quaint little country (along with the planet). I don’t recognise the place now but I hope the people return,they are lost, searching for a memory.

Sometimes I sustain myself with a fantasy that there will be a world trial where all the politicians and corporations, the polluters and money men would stand and face their crimes. Would they at that moment find contrition? Or would they say they were just “following orders”?

All that remains is for us is to not follow their “orders”. To resist in any and every way we can. To say this was not done in my name.

Have to say I agree wholehearted with this sentiment, Steve. I feel I must apologize on behalf of my country for the public embarrassment and spectacle of wanton greed the Republican Party has become. I sincerely hope we do resist in every way we can and that the effort is so broad as to be overwhelming. For my part, I don’t think we have too much time left before things really start going down hill. We see bad impacts now but this is the easier stuff. Later it’s a really tough slog.

James Burton

My heart goes out to you in NZ. I was there for a time in the late 80’s and I saw just what you describe. The Neo Liberals hit New Zealand hard in the 80’s! ” With the 1980’s came Neo-liberal economics which destroyed that quaint little country (along with the planet)”

Steve from NZ

Thank you Robert – you really don’t have to apologise – it is a crisis of leadership that is continually downgrading the level of ‘debate’ to a point where it becomes just a grotesque parody of itself. Ted Cruz cooking bacon with a machine gun for instance – when I saw that I felt we had entered a world where normal ideas around a contest of ideas had become completely irrelevant.

A few years ago I saw the “B” comedy movie “Idiocracy” – incredibly it has become an accurate portrayal of our near future.

Andy in SD

It is not just an American condition. It is contagious and rampant. Canada & Australia are both starring in that one as well.

Between ambivalence, ignorance, denial (many forms) and plain old fashioned stupidity not much is left to reason.

The presidential quest turned WWF grudge match complete with masks, pageantry, choreography and muscle flexing has left me wondering what the absolute lowest common denominator of simpleness will be the magic key to the white house (opening bid $1Billion).

I am stunned by what childish stunts are required to obtain a sound bite in the media now. Don’t get me started on questioning slogans for what is under the veneer of handlers.

ie (This was this past week).

News Person: You said you would build a wall between the US & Mexico and make them pay for it. How will you make them pay for it?

Trump: It will be easy.

News Person: You said you will stop illegal immigration 100%, how will you do that?

Trump: I’ll make sure everyone who comes in is legal.

–END… that’s it! Those are now acceptable answers! —

Is that all it takes now? You don’t have to provide anything more that some stupid slogan, and you won’t have your feet held to the fire as to “how”, “when”, “what”? No wonder we are in deep poo poo. Too many people slurp it up and are grateful that nothing was presented that might force them to think. It is like a crappy sitcom where a laugh track tells you when “funny” happened.

—— 5 years from now ——-

2020 Election Clown: I promise I’ll put a Chevy Tahoe (Eddie Bower edition) in every driveway with all options, taxes will be a 0%, I’ll quadruple the military size, I’ll build 5,000 aircraft carriers, I’ll create 50 gorillian jobs, corporate taxes will be so low we pay them to be in business, everyone will get anything they want whenever they want, and I’ll balance the budget… hell we’ll have the biggest surplus ever imagined.

News Person: So how will you do that?

2020 Election Clown: It’ll be easy.

News Person: Ok, glad you answered that one so factually. Lets move on to your favorite color.

I hate to say it but Stupid sells. Stupid works wayyy…. better than smart.

rustj2015

Christy Rodgers:
“No mission now but money, no justice now but money no collective destiny no vision just money driving us to claw and pull in all directions, pretending this is what life is, farther apart always till the gravity of shared humanity is finally broken.”

This is part of a more stark augury, but it is at the point of what our civilization is dying of.

Steven Blaisdell

Andy
You have noticed that all the Anglo countries trending dangerously stupid are News Corp strongholds. I read not long ago an analysis showing the specifics of this influence. As simplistic as it seems, it’s Murdoch. Or Moloch, given the scorched Earth effects of News Corp’s relentless propagation of puerile narcissism, where consuming (the planet) becomes the highest and only good. A very costly sacrifice indeed.

It’s really a rather stark and obvious choice, but one must exit history’s largest bubble – day to day life as almost every human in industrialized society experiences it – in order to see it. Hard to do, which for me is where the Pope enters the picture, giving a clear alternative to business as usual (with the white robe and everything). Not even good v. evil, but life v. death – pretty stark and pretty clear. It’s time for a new, ecological “Ten Commandments” to lead the way out of our self immolating worship of the golden calf.

In a way, having Trump distill, focus, and codify the Murdoch message is, I think, good for American politics. No ambiguity. Now the American left has to stand up and demand that Democrats seize the day and take an unshakable, positive moral stance: either humanity is something more than a colony of yeast with forebrains, or……death to life as we know it.

Anyways, the battle lines are in the statehouses. Republicans have full control of 24 state governments; Democrats have 6. Democrats reliably turn out in Presidential election years, then effectively concede mid-term and state election cycles. With a strong moral message and imperative, however, I think that can change, perhaps faster than most folks think. And I think Robert’s approach is pretty close to the right one – a strong, understandable but not simplistic moral message backed by irrefutable facts, repeated as often as necessary. Sanders gets it. We’ll see if Clinton, et al get it.

The premise of Idiocracy isn’t that far off. The American public is not only ignorant, but downright hostile to science, education and knowledgable experts…and idolize morons who are nothing but narcicistic über-consumers. We find ourselves in some Orwellian dystopia full of doublespeak and doublethink, where the media conditions the ignorant populace to be afraid of non-threats like terrorism, when our climate inaction and own police force is far more dangerous.

“In 2009, global leaders agreed to try not to let the world warm more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times. This is sometimes seen as a rule of thumb for keeping on the right side of climate change, within “safe” territory.

“But that’s not at all how scientists meant it, Professor Camille Parmesan, an expert in biodiversity at the University of Plymouth in the United Kingdom said. Climate risks don’t begin at 2C, she said; it’s more like where they go from high to intolerably high.”

Eric Thurston

The Polar Bear photo is indeed heartbreaking. One of the hardest things I’ve had to do in my 15 years or so of participating in internet forums like this is to develop a greater tolerance for other’s points of view, and a thicker skin because of the inevitable flames that occasionally get thrown my way.

Having said that… sometimes I feel near the breaking point (I’m with you C. Bob)
I hung out at The Oil Drum for a number of years and there was one arrogant Canadian who insisted that the Polar Bear population was thriving. He also claimed that the Athabasca River was just as polluted before the tar sands operation began as it is now, with ‘natural’ seepage of oil causing the pollution. (Dr. David Schindler’s research gives lie to a lot of these claims). But the most outrageous claim was that the tar sands operation is actually a massive clean-up operation because all this polluting bitumen is getting extracted, leaving much cleaner earth behind!!!!!!!! The oil companies of course claim they will ‘restore’ the ‘Tar Pits of Mordor’ to its previous state with vegetation and all, a claim that has less than a snowball’s chance in hell (or on the US Senate floor) of happening.

This kind of sh*t makes you want to climb right through the internet screen and strangle the son-of-a-bitch!!

It just ain’t easy dealing with the amount of intentional ignorance out there. Thanks Robert Scribbler for giving us a forum where we can cry on each other’s shoulders, share good news as well as bad and find some solace and strength in knowing there are many others who share our views and our pains.

My opinion on the Oil Drum is that it was kind of a shooting gallery where the oil folks could have open season on those of us who supported energy transition, renewables, and a general moving away from fossil fuels. I had it out with that oil company cheerleader Robert Rapier a number of times. And all the information put out on any real solutions to fossil fuel use was horribly mangled — tilted drastically in favor of fossil fuels themselves. But I think it all finally crystallized for me at the first keystone XL protest in Washington DC. As I was walking in there was some guy handing out fliers on peak oil. The guy was claiming that, basically, we shouldn’t be protesting the pipeline because we needed it to stop peak oil. The fliers, of course, were printed by one of our fossil fuel think tanks. Peak oil was thus a convienant excuse to keep burning oil until it ran out. Climate be damned.

I do remember you and your level headedness fondly from the forum. And I’m very glad that there’s a haven for you here. You’re a good heart and I wish we had a hundred more like you.

Really good question. Maybe it just sounds profound to say “we’re all guilty”? But I agree, far more of a hindrance than a help, except to the extent that it encourages people to take responsibility for reducing their own GHG footprints. On the other hand, that is not all bad, since it creates the kind of consumer pressures that are–SOOO slowly–forcing the capitalist system to respond.

Greg

Robert, this post is really hard. Thank you and CB. This is the kind of story that resonates among the masses and is particularly poignant for me now. I have internet again for a night and of course had to come back to this blog to catch up. Alaska has been magical and reminded me of the power and wildness of nature. Climate change is visible and real here every day. I have seen it in the fire damage and the dirty glaciers and their tremendous retreats and the too easy views of Denali, that should be hidden in the clouds, and the need for a fan to keep cool several nights this past week and in the stories of change from the locals I meet. Yet, still the incredible abundance and resilience is seen everywhere. I saw the opposite of this polar bear, a truly fat and ready for winter, brown bear. The injustice of the contrast. I watched a salmon run in remote Katmai as they lept to reach above the falls, the river thick with them and then, quietly, without warning, a gigantic brown bear came out of the woods, more than 300 pounds bigger than an inland grizzly, and sat down below the falls to catch the leaping salmon. The fish suddenly stopped. We watched for over an hour as the giant bear waited and waited, all of us, humans, bear, salmon nearly still in a relentless high latitude burning sun. How did the fish know, across the width of the river, that he was there, none willing to leap despite the instinct to spawn upstream? We waited and waited for the bear to catch a fish as he scanned back and forth for one to leap. He, in turn, waited for the fish to jump but none did. It was a test of patience for all. Finally, he gave up, stood and moved 10 meters over and found three salmon in the shallows in the space of a few minutes. Roughly 4500 calories each. Some starve while some of us are fat. We humans know this among our species all too well. Keep up the fight Robert.

Abel Adamski

Robert
What really is so heartwrenching is the photo of that bear and the look on his face and in his eyes, he knows he is done but is trying to fight on, he is that weak and emaciated, that huge try would have taken so much from him, unlikely he could do it again, just no reserve of energy and strength left and he knows it,, but he will keep on fighting to survive.

Maybe a symbolic representation of where those who try to prevent catastrophe find themselves.

A symbolic representation of where those who do not prevent catastrophe find themselves. If there hadn’t been a staunch, five decades long opposition to the sustainability movement and rational policies to rapidly move away from fossil fuels the bear wouldn’t be there, starving now. So stop blaming the victim and start blaming the criminals.

Colorado Bob

Cheers, Bob. You were rightly impassioned about it. So I decided to help by sending up a flare or two. The polar bear abuse on the right is just as shameful as many of their other talking points. The bears absolutely matter.

Speaking of bears, my wife and I saw a mother black bear bound up a tree in Shenadoah with her three cubs this weekend. She had to have been 500 pounds + . They were about 50 feet from us, having approached us from the left at a trail head. I saw them out of the corner of my eye as they rapidly approached. Before I turned to face them, I thought they were just more hikers. It gave me a bit of a start when I locked eyes with the mother bear. She spent a half second taking Cat and I in, then just rocketed up the tree with cubs in tow. Amazing, majestic sight. Made me think a bit more about their polar bear cousins up in the Arctic.

Colorado Bob

Griffin

Robert, if you are interested in a short movie from life on the front lines of the battle in the Arctic, the one-day time lapse from Barrow, AK is a must see. They got some waves. How unusual that is, can be gauged by the number of folks lining the protective berm on the shoreline. At one point, the surf clearly breaches the low point of the berm and washes beyond. Time is wearing thin for the settlement on the shore up there.http://seaice.alaska.edu/gi/observatories/barrow_webcam

Colorado Bob

A heat wave that has already killed dozens and sickened thousands in Japan reached another torrid milestone Friday as the nation’s capital, Tokyo, suffered an unprecedented eighth consecutive day of extreme heat.

Tokyo reached 37.7 degrees Celsius (99.9 degrees Fahrenheit) Friday, marking its eighth straight day of highs at or above Japan’s “extreme heat” threshold of 35 C (95 F). An analysis of Japan Meteorological Agency data, conducted by The Weather Channel, confirmed that the previous record was just four consecutive days sent on five different occasions between 1978 and 2013. Records began in central Tokyo in June 1875.

Colorado Bob

Corrected sunspot history suggests climate change not due to natural solar trends

The Sunspot Number is a crucial tool used to study the solar dynamo, space weather and climate change. It has now been recalibrated and shows a consistent history of solar activity over the past few centuries. The new record has no significant long-term upward trend in solar activity since 1700, as was previously indicated. This suggests that rising global temperatures since the industrial revolution cannot be attributed to increased solar activity.

According to the Coca Cola Company (The sugar and caffeine centric appendage to the Mcdonald’s empire.) polar bears are doing just fine.
Why, they’ve been seen happily rolling around on snow and ice drinking — you guessed it — Coca Cola.
It’s all here.
There’s no need to Photoshop this.
No, indeed.

– Terminology note:
It may be helpful sometimes, when mentioning soot — to add, or describe it, as ‘carbon black’ soot or ‘black carbon’ soot.
From what I know, soot’s black coloration is from the carbon. ‘Carbon’ is the source material of so many of our climate dysfunctions.
##

‘… let’s take a moment to reflect on one thing Jon Stewart was really, really good at: skewering climate deniers. In his 16-year run, Stewart had no tolerance for those who denied the science of climate change, only becoming more vocal and more adamant as the need to act became ever more pressing. Here are the very best of Jon Stewart skewering climate deniers:’

Colorado’s four national parks — Rocky Mountain, Great Sand Dunes, Mesa Verde and Black Canyon of the Gunnison — were among 36 national parks found to experience moderate or worse ozone pollution according to the Air Quality Index developed by the Environmental Protection Agency.

A recent analysis from the National Parks Conservation Association graded pollution in the country’s 48 national parks and found that every park is plagued by air pollution and climate change impacts.

Air quality in parks can be as bad, or worse, than in some major cities because of emissions from outdated coal plants, and in the Southwest, the pollution is driven by drought, human development and an unprecedented surge in oil and gas development.

islandraider

Back in the early 90’s, I had the opportunity to conduct a study in RMNP looking at dry deposition of nitrogen onto snow. Spent a 4 months hiking up to a snow field along the continental divide, collecting samples off snow from a watershed, & hiking back down to process the samples for analysis. Even back then, there was a strong signal from the brown cloud that coats the front range of Colorado, floating up to higher elevations of “pristine” (very overused word, that) mountain ecosystems & depositing onto the snow. I am 100% certain that it is much worse now.

We are impacting every part of this planet. The cancer analogy (also overused) seems apt. I wish I could share Robert’s optimism. Best I can tell, from a scientist’s perspective, mixed with observations of human nature, I am seeing no significant trajectory changes on our path to oblivion. I sincerely hope that I am wrong. I will continue to live my life as if it matters. I will continue to try to convince others to “see” & act is if it matters. I have little hope.

“One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds. Much of the damage inflicted on land is quite invisible to laymen. An ecologist must either harden his shell and make believe that the consequences of science are none of his business, or he must be the doctor who sees the marks of death in a community that believes itself well and does not want to be told otherwise.” ― Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac

Mark from New England

islandraider: I will continue to live my life as if it matters. I will continue to try to convince others to “see” & act is if it matters. I have little hope.

Beautifully articulated. Thank you and for the Aldo Leopold quote. After reading your post I thought about how CO is the state(after CA) that I’ve visited most often over the years. Visited those National Parks and I spent the winter/spring of ’13/’14 in the Rockies—town of Carbondale. I recall one beautiful winter afternoon—in particular because the sun happened to be perfectly aiming at the Roaring Fork River where I was walking with my dog and taking pictures…………The snow still fresh and looked like cotton balls atop on the fragile, skinny branches of bushes. I decided to eat some some of it—reveling in this child-like behavior that brought many fond memories. It tasted so very pure on the palette. When I returned home and told friends they said that it was a terrible idea. That snow at that altitude, and position, in the Rockies, would be polluted with anything beyond what I’m breathing from day-to-day didn’t enter my mind……….it was this afternoon—I did use a filter for effect.

“As oceans warm across the planet, one species of fish is escaping the heat by swimming deeper underwater.

“For up to a year, scientists at James Cook University monitored the behavior of Redthroat emperor fish (Lethrinus miniatus) around Heron Island in the Great Barrier Reef. After being tagged with transmitters, the fish have been shown diving beyond the reef slope they normally inhabit.”

Colorado Bob

California drought: River that runs through downtown San Jose goes dry; fish and wildlife suffer

The river that runs through America’s 10th-largest city has dried up, shriveling a source of civic pride that had welcomed back trout, salmon, beavers and other wildlife after years of restoration efforts. Over the past two months, large sections of the Guadalupe have become miles of cracked, arid gray riverbed. Fish and other wildlife are either missing or dead, casualties of California’s relentless drought.

redskylite

“While scientists have recently worked out reliable data sets for losses of ice mass in its interior, this task is trickier at the island’s edges, where glaciers tend to be warmer, thicker and full of crevices. Achieving a precise understanding of the mass of these glaciers will form another major part of the Oceans Melting Greenland project.”

Andy in SD

The global food system is under chronic pressure to meet an ever-rising demand, and its vulnerability to acute disruptions is compounded by factors such as climate change, water stress, ongoing globalisation and heightening political instability.

“A global production shock of the kind set out in this scenario would be expected to generate major economic and political impacts that could affect clients across a very wide spectrum of insurance classes. This analysis has presented the initial findings for some of the key risk exposures.

Andy in SD

Some estimates put our soil resource at 60 years of workable soil for agriculture (in a significant amount required to maintain the population).

Human existence relies on healthy soils, writes Jane Rickson. But all over the world they are being lost and degraded by inappropriate land use, reducing their capacity to produce food and store water, nutrients and carbon. Sustainable land management must be incentivised to conserve this essential resource.

redskylite

NASA’s doing great work in Greenland . . . part of their Greenland project . . .
“While scientists have recently worked out reliable data sets for losses of ice mass in its interior, this task is trickier at the island’s edges, where glaciers tend to be warmer, thicker and full of crevices. Achieving a precise understanding of the mass of these glaciers will form another major part of the Oceans Melting Greenland project.”

Colorado Bob

Griffin

I agree with you. Looking at the NASA Worldview shots, you can see the low spin up on the 7th and roll in towards the coast on the 8th. It did not present itself as capable of such ferocity, given the satellite images, but there was obviously some serious power involved at the surface level!!

My comment is still in moderation. Posted 2 links re: one person dying while trying to save a yacht for his club and downed power lines, homes and restaurants. 116K people(1/3 pop.) without power. Ouch. Dear friend is from Santiago.

Colorado Bob

The spam filter gets everyone with 2 links. Post one, and then post the second as a reply . The locals in Griffin ‘s video were clearly stunned. I looked at the map of the three towns in his link, these towns were on a North facing bay , Northwest , from Santiago. As RS said the other day, the Pacific is a mess.

The disaster, flooding, up north exacerbates political issues they have with funding and attention from Santiago. The mayor of Tocopilla, furious today, told the central gvt in Santiago to come out of its bubble.

Colorado Bob

The study – Climate driven vertical acceleration of Icelandic crust measured by CGPS geodesy – was carried out by researchers from the University of Iceland and the University of Arizona. The group studied data from 62 GPS sensors around Iceland to work out how the earth responded to climate change-driven glacial melting; they found that the country is actually rising by as much as 35 millimetres a year.

Griffin

Colorado Bob

It’s a classic shot of when the duff is burning, That darker grey ballooning over the fire is the Earth burning, tree roots 18 to 24 inches of moss, needles leaves etc. With little wind surface blowing, That stuff will be on fire next spring. Just like a coal mine.

Siberia does this every summer now. It’s now a tag team in boreal zone. We saw Canada, and Alaska at the same time this year early , and thank God Russia, was not as active.
They slowed down some, but the “old fire season”, has just started. We are about to enter a world where all 3 start burning in May, and burn all the way to Oct.

Long time lurker, new commenter who wants to express his deep appreciation for Robert’s work here (and the amazing commenters that add so much). I have been following the arctic ice seasons since 2007, and 2015 is exciting in that we don’t know what is going to happen this deep into the season. Certainly the Beaufort is at a tipping point that could go either way (the daily Bremen maps are fascinating and now a must-see every day), but I think the big story this week is the Atlantic side. The ice is very thin (< 2 m) and the heat is now there and the ice edge is moving closer each day towards the pole. It would be one of the stories out of this season if it reaches 85 degrees N.

I don't know if anyone feels up to it, but it would be great to track the average latitude of the ice edge on a day-to-day basis for the rest of the season from the Barents to the Greenland Seas. (That would be easier than the Beaufort where there is more than one ice edge 😉 ). Just a thought.

I do think we are going to hit 2 degrees C but our quest is to not go to 3, 4 and beyond. Thank you Robert for your efforts and for also being a beacon of hope (there are too many people throwing up there hands or have a death wish) that we can move forward towards a better world.

bill shockley

According to Hansen, if we hit 2C this century, that very likely takes us to 3C or 4C later on, from feedbacks and heating in the pipeline, not to mention sea level rise and the loss of civilization on the way to 2C. But along with these grimmest of prognostications he also sees the possibility of at least partial salvation through swift action. I hope we have more than hope in the tank!

I agree with Hansen. We are on a very dangerous track. One thing that worries me is that countries misreport their emissions (e.g. China) so that the positive events in climate policy mitigation don’t lead to the results they seek. We only have 5-10 years to move things in a better direction. I appreciate your words…we need more than hope…let’s get to work!

bill shockley

There is the battle against coal–Obama is doing a lot and natural gas is displacing it too. What I worry about is oil and cars spewing carbon out the tailpipes. We are using almost 100 million barrels of oil a day and that is still growing with the shale fields. It is hard to replace a few billion cars with zero-emission vehicles in a short time frame. I work on biofuels but that takes time to commercialize and make viable as an alternative. We have to be active in the political area, both across kitchen tables and in campaigns. Climate change is my litmus test because it will affect us more than any other issue in the US and the world. We also have to walk the walk in terms of alternative vehicles and economic efficiency steps in our homes and businesses. I applaud you for your interest in the fight–we can make a difference from a scary future.

bill shockley

I defer to Hansen, who has been studying the problem for 30-40 years, intensely, at a high level. Quantitatively. For the last decade he’s been stumping on the campaign trail, while keeping up with the science and contributing important articles. He’s been offering his solutions and hearing the feedback, so his ideas are the most informed and the most well vetted. I feel like everyone should shut up and listen to him.

He doesn’t worry about cars and oil. He says we need to get electricity completely converted to carbon-free sources–renewables and nuclear. Once electricity is carbon-free and we have excess generation, then we can begin to make our own liquid fuels using carbon-free energy.

Renewables are growing fast but so is world-wide energy useage. He says we won’t achieve the required pace of carbon reduction without a strong carbon tax. And he doesn’t see that being achieved through international agreements. He thinks the most likely way is if China or the US initiate it on their own, individually or, even better, bilaterally. A carbon tax “exports” well, because countries selling goods to the US, for example, would have to pay tax on any fossil fuel content in the manufacture of the product. So, it would be in the exporting country’s best interest to tax it themselves, rather than give the money to the US.

Further, a carbon tax should be revenue neutral — the proceeds 100%-distributed to citizens on a per-capita basis — so that it does not stress the majority of the people, who have low income. It would be a socialist policy, redistributing wealth. It would encourage efficiency, discourage FF use, and stimulate the economy while creating an even playing field for alternative energy sources. It would have to be phased in over 10 years or so, so that the price signal could have the desired effect without too much disruption to the economy.

He thinks a revenue neutral carbon tax should be appealing to conservatives, because it doesn’t grow government. He actually thinks it is more likely to take hold with Republicans than with Democrats — the revenue neutral part — because Democrats just can’t keep their hands off the money. Problem is, I don’t think Republicans resemble, anymore, his image of what they are… they’re off the deep end.

I think the science end of climate change is settled. Where we’re at and what needs to be done. Attention should be on implementation and politics. I’m curious what can happen with this election. What would happen with Hillary (ugh); with Sanders (??); with a Republican (yeow!). I’ve been watching Chris Hedges videos. Amazing man. This one is recent. It’s personal, talks about his life and career, his father, his beliefs.

Youtube: Chris Hedges “Wages of Rebellion”

The difference between rebellion and revolution. The difference between taking power and scaring those in power.

Colorado Bob

Is that an official temperature or is the sun shining on those thermometers? On-the ground temperatures are sometimes different than air temperatures in the shade (think stadium grounds). That seems incredibly high.

bill shockley

Colorado Bob

Cyprus is an island surrounded by water DEATH VALLEY is lowest spot in the Western Hemisphere . If you read the link , and follow this stuff , you understand that High Pressure over the Persian Gulf is drifting to the East. It’s that same system that made a 165 F degree index over the Northern Persian Gulf last week.

Let me make one more point,

IN the 21st century, giant High Pressure systems Will slowly drift around, and extremely deep Lows will race race around them . Baseball hail will destroy the face of airplanes. Twain will see 4 to 5 feet of rain from every cyclone.

bill shockley –

I nope you aren’t invested in beach front property. See Chile clip. None of those people are D. Trump.

bill shockley

Thanks for the pointers. Yes, I do watch these things but I don’t have the expertise to recognise the important nuances that add meaning to the numbers… that’s what attracted me to Robert’s blog — the expert, passionate focus on world-wide weather and climate phenomena contributed by Robert and his coterie of loyal and avid commenters. It’s what I consider makes this blog unique.

James Burton

Ever warming seas have consequences! “An unprecedented bloom of toxic algae that spreads thousands of miles across the Pacific Coast of the United States and Canada is raising concerns for health and massive economic loss through the closing of fisheries.
The massive algae bloom emerged in May and spans from the Channel Islands off the coast of Southern California to Alaska’s Aleutian Islands.”
A preview of the future is taking place on the West Coast. Toxic seas bordering a fire ravaged coast. The cost of global warming is mounting so fast it is hard to keep up. We either change now, and fast, or the price will be a 1,000X the cost of switching off of fossil carbon.

“It’s been hot in Germany, really hot. Newspapers are full of tips on how to endure temperatures of over 40 degrees Celsius (105F): avoid strenuous physical activity, stay in the shade and drink lots of fluids. The dome of Berlin’s Reichstag building was closed several times last week to avoid exposing tourists to the melting heat in the glass construction. In the state of Baden-Württemberg, highway police have repeatedly asked motorists to adhere to the heat-related speed limit of 80 kilometers per hour (50 mph). Old highway lanes made of concrete can literally buckle to form ramps similar to jumps on a ski slope. In Potsdam’s Park Sanssouci, trees dating to the days of the 18th-century Prussian King Frederick the Great are endangered by the heat.

“But no one is speaking of climate change. Most people in Germany view it as a problem elsewhere, like in Africa, where desertification and hunger have led to war and the exodus of inhabitants, or in Poland, where the ice is melting away.”

Colorado Bob

The dome of Berlin’s Reichstag building was closed several times last week to avoid exposing tourists to the melting heat in the glass construction. In the state of Baden-Württemberg, highway police have repeatedly asked motorists to adhere to the heat-related speed limit of 80 kilometers per hour (50 mph). Old highway lanes made of concrete can literally buckle to form ramps similar to jumps on a ski slope.

Bill H

Arctic sea ice area (not extent) now below the value for the same date in 2007. Also very close to 2011 level. If Robert’s suggestion about a 2 year period for el Ninos to fully impact on the arctic then there will be precious little left in 2017.

– An automobile and traffic centric Disneyland opens July 17, 1955 in Anaheim, CA.
– Scores of acres of farmland are converted to asphalt parking lots to accommodate this enterprise based upon pure fantasy and fossil fuel dependent access .

Seeing this poor bear, an example of what many innocent creatures/species are facing, simply breaks my heart. It may be the greatest crime ever committed, the destruction of an astonishingly complex and beautiful web of life that took millions of years to evolve, for the greed and comfort of a few individuals over the course of a couple generations. The most immoral act I can think of. It’s cliche to say “extinction is forever”, and the words don’t capture the immensity of it all…never again for the life of the entire universe will these creatures live and breathe and passionately love and care for their kin, and fight for survival on this precious blue oasis floating in a vast sea of emptiness.

rustj2015

No hiding place. The sooner we realize that. The sooner we realize we’re all together in this, the sooner we can have a chance to effectively fight this thing off. The predatory, individualistic activity, however, just makes the situation worse and worse.

redskylite

“Megafires are remaking forests in ways that scientists are still struggling to understand. They incinerate habitat for songbirds like the yellow-rumped warbler, push already-vulnerable whitebark pine trees closer to extinction, and, when they are especially ferocious, burn down whole forests so thoroughly, they never grow back.”

bill shockley

We’ve paid in hell since Moscow burned
As Cossacks tear us piece by piece
Our dead are strewn a hundred leagues
Though death would be a sweet release
And our grande army is dressed in rags
A frozen starving beggar band
Like rats we steal each other’s scraps
Fall to fighting hand to hand

What dreams he made for us to dream
Spanish skies, Egyptian sands
The world was ours, we marched upon
Our little Corporal’s command
And I lost an eye at Austerlitz
The sabre slash yet gives me pain
My one true love awaits me still
The flower of the aquitaine

I pray for her who prays for me
A safe return to my belle France
We prayed these wars would end all wars
In war we know is no romance
And I pray our child will never see
A little Corporal again
Point toward a foreign shore
Captivate the hearts of men

bill shockley

bill shockley

Some people get a cheap laugh breaking up the speed limit
Scaring the pedestrians for a minute
Crossing up progress driving on the grass
Leaving just enough room to pass
Sunday driver never took a test
Oh yeah, once upon a time in the West
Yes and it’s no use saying that you don’t know nothing
It’s still gonna get you if you don’t do something
Sitting on a fence that’s a dangerous course
Ah, you could even catch a bullet from the peace-keeping force
Even the hero gets a bullet in the chest
Oh yeah, once upon a time in the West
Mother Mary your children are slaughtered
Some of you mothers ought to lock up your daughters
Who’s protecting the indigency?
Now heap big trouble in the land of plenty

wili

bill shockley

Preacher was talking there’s a sermon he gave
He said every man’s conscience is vile and depraved.

I read the story somewhere of how he heard this line. Might have been his autobiography, part I. He was in the South, recording an album and during a break he went out for a motorcycle ride in the country. Stopped into a store along the way and a dour man behind the counter delivered the line, with no apparent provocation.